The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-04-22


nulty to retired Judges who shall have
served twenty years on the bench and
reached a certain age. 1t is assumed
by some that the principle is anti-Re-
publican and dangerous precedent in
popular government; but they forget
that il has been a feature of our gov
ernment from its foundation and appli-
cable to classes with certainly no more
and often less claim upon the generosity
of the government than has the Judge
who gives the vigor of his life to the
administration OF justice. The Army
and the Navy officers are retired al
sixty-two on part pay, regardless oil
merit as public servants, and the Judg.
es of the Supreme Court of the nation
can retire at certain age after ten
years of judicial service, on full pay
for life.
The principle of an annuity to re.
tired Judges is based on the clearesl
and broadcast demands of justice. The
Judge who is called from the bar to
administer justice, must be well on to
war the noontide of life at least, and
when he has served twenty years on
the bench, he is, rs rule, untitled to
return to the struggles of the bar. 1u.
deed, the Judge who could return to
successful practice after twenty years
of judicial service, must be more of an
advocate than Judge, and that class
seldom command reelection to the
bench. 1t must be remembered, also,
that our Judges are practically exclud-
ed from the ordinary channels of thrift
which are open to all other men OF
their intelligence. The nature of their
Office excludes them from business en-
terprises around them which must often
come before the Courts with issues for
| judicial determination and the Judge
is thus Substantially limited to his sal
ary for his livelihood and provision for
his old age and his family. Viewed
from any ard every standpoint, the
Judge who has served twenty years on
the bench and reached his three score
years, has the strongest claim upon the
| justice of the Stale for an annuity upon
his retirement.
The writer hereof has personally
known of Judges in this State distln.
guished for their ability and integrity
on the bench, who died in absolute
want They had given the whole Wig.
or of their lives to the administrati on
of justice until the infirmities of age
untitled them for success at the bar
and they languished 10 sorrow and
need until the long halt gave them rest
This should not be in great State like
Pennsylvania, where there is universal
pride in the faithful protection to per
son and property given by our homes,
Judiciary, and the bill now before the
Legislature should not be regarded a.
an appeal to the generosity of the
Commonwealth, but an appeal to its
manly sense of justice.
There are hardly more than half 6
dozen Judges in the State to-day who
could now be beneiciares under the
bill in question, and two of the number
are on the Philadelphia bench. Presi
dent Judges Allison and Hare have
each given more than thirty consecu
tive years to judicial service, and Presi
dent Judge Thayer will reach his lore
of years as Judge in 1883. The veter
an Ex Judges Pearson, of Harrisburg,
and Fisher, of York, rank with Allison
and Hare as survivors of the Judges
first elected in 1851, who served thirty
consecutive years, and who would deny
them the recognition of a small annuity
to mellow the evening of their days ?
Judges Allison, Hare and Thayer are
all yet vigorous in the judicial harness,
but why should they not be free to re-
tire on part salary at any time they
feel that their responsibility aud exact,
ing duties become oppressive? The
people will not discard them because of
the universal appreciation of their ex-
ceptional usefulness, but a majority of
them have no fortune upon which they
can retire, and they are compelled to
accept judicial duties as long as it shall
be possible for them TO perform the
labor.
1t is an open secret that the late
Judge Ludlow's illness was aggravated
by the apprehension that broken health
would compel him to retire from the
bench, after thirty years of the most
enlightened and faithful judicial service
without means of support; and it is
also an open secret that the late Judge
Peirce would not have been renominat-
ed last fall if he could have been re-
tired on an annuity. He was known
to be broken in health and enfeebled
mentally, but the popular appreciation
of his judicial service gave him a
unanimous reelection rather than re-
tire him without reward to die. The
people were more just than is the State,
and there is no section of Pennsylvania
where the people would not gladly be
just, even generously just, to the Judg,
es who have given the golden period Of
their lives to the faithful protection of
person and property. By he passage
of the pending bill the State would,
therefore, b. fairly rejecting that gen
eral sense of justice that is so deeply
grounded in the American people, and
We earnestly urge its enactment as
equally just to the Common wealth and
TO her veteran Judges. Times.
The bill above referred to was de-
feated in the Senate on Wednesday.
Interstate Commerce Act Putting Rail
roads on their Metal,